Hebrew Bible and Christian Scriptures

 

When I was a senior in high school, my senior class at church selected Joshua 1:9 as our theme verse for the year.

 

“Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

 

We recited this verse each Sunday morning. It was a fitting verse for such a transitional time in our lives.  However, I have realized that God’s message to Joshua about courage is an important one for most stages in life. In college, I needed to trust in God’s presence and guidance as I made decisions regarding my major and other future decisions including getting married. Over the last 7 years, I have needed to be courageous and rely on God’s guidance as Aaron and I started Camp Machaceh. Courage also came into play as Aaron and I transitioned to seminary and life in Waco. I find much peace in God’s promise to always be with Joshua wherever he went.

 

Over the last few weeks, my mother in law was diagnosed with primary peritoneal cancer and underwent surgery to remove the tumors. She is home from the hospital and well on the road to recovering from surgery, but she faces a long road of chemo ahead of her. My prayer for her and our family on this journey is Joshua 1:9. Regardless of the outcome or the difficulty of the road, I pray that we will always remember and take courage in God’s presence with us.

 

I am part of a minority group. This may seem like an odd statement considering I am a white, middle class American, but I am a minority all the same. You see, I am left-handed in a world created for right handed people. Ever noticed how the pen attached to the credit card machine is geared toward right handed people? Or how most desks in college classrooms are for right-handers? So it is no wonder I have always enjoyed the story of Ehud in Judges 3. Now don’t get me wrong, it is quite a disturbing story. Ehud showed up to present tribute to King Eglon, but when the king was left alone with him, Ehud drew his sword and “thrust it into Eglon’s belly.” The Bible includes all the gory detail about the entire sword entering his belly and the fat closing over it. Overall, a rather disgusting story. What I like about this story, though, is in verse 15- “But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man” (emphasis added). Ehud was able to carry out his task of killing King Eglon because he was left-handed. The guards would not have thought to check Ehud’s right thigh for a weapon because everyone was right-handed and would have strapped their swords to their left thighs. Often being left-handed was looked down on and in some cases seen as evil. But here we see God using Ehud to rescue his people, and the writer pointed out that he was left-handed. I guess being left-handed has its perks after all.

 

Dependency. The word conjures up a range of thoughts and emotions. Dependency on God is always something I was taught to do by my parents and something I have strived for throughout my life. However, my understanding of dependency has taken on a new meaning over the last six or seven years.

 

Six and half years ago Aaron and I were living in Colorado Springs, Colorado preparing to enter camp ministry. We had gotten married a few months before moving there, and we were looking for a job in the Christian camping world. We were in the process of interviewing for a job at a camp in Durango, CO, when God did the unthinkable. He sent us back to Texas to start Camp Machaceh and work with underprivileged youth in our home state. This was a shock to our mountain loving selves, but we knew we had no choice. To stay in Colorado would be disobedient. Within a few months we found ourselves back in the metroplex figuring out what it meant to start a nonprofit organization. Through my experience with Camp, I am constantly challenged to be dependent on God whether for donations, volunteers, or even weather. We have seen God do amazing things through the ministry, a testament to His power and provision. Through each stage of this ministry, I learn something new about dependency. Thus, I cannot help but wonder what it must have been like for the Israelites during their desert years.

 

The Israelites were dependent on God for everything, much to their chagrin at times. They relied on God for food and water. They relied on God’s protection from their enemies, and they even relied on His guidance as to when to travel and where to camp. In Numbers 9, we learn that on the day the tabernacle was set up, the LORD descended on it in the form of a cloud. This cloud remained there, appearing as fire by night and cloud by day. However, when the cloud lifted from over the tabernacle, the Israelites knew it was time to move to a new location, and they would set out travelling until the cloud settled in a new location. Verse 23 of Numbers 9 particularly struck me:

 

 “At the command of the LORD they would camp, and at the command of the LORD they would set out. They kept the charge of the LORD, at the command of the LORD by Moses.”

 

The Israelites had nothing apart from the LORD. If God had not been with them, guiding them, providing for them, they would have been left with nothing and would have most likely perished. This made me rethink dependency a bit. While I still think I have been dependent on God for many things in my life and for most all things regarding Camp Machaceh, I wonder, can I truly understand dependency unless I have relied on God for everything down to food, water, shelter, and clothing? Or is simply realizing that without the generosity of others I would be in a much different place a recognition of dependency?

 I love a well-crafted story. Some of my favorites include Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, and Jane Austen’s Persuasion to name a few. What makes these stories great? For me it’s the character and plot development. There are no unnecessary characters or events. All characters and events have a role to play in the grand narrative. This is something I love about the Bible as well.  

In the first chapter of Exodus, we learn of the Israelites’ enslavement in Egypt. But “the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread” (v. 12) making the Egyptians increasingly dread and hate the Israelites. This eventually led to Pharaoh mandating the midwives to kill all Hebrew boys at birth. It is at this point that we meet Shiphrah and Puah, the Hebrew midwives.

 

Our record of their story is short and without flourish; however, they play an important role in Exodus. We are told in 1:17 that the midwives feared God and ignored Pharaoh’s command allowing the Hebrew boys to live. They stood firm to Pharaoh’s face a few verses later, and as a result God protected them and blessed them with families. Their actions allowed the Israelites to continue to multiply and strengthen, setting the stage for Moses’ birth and the actions of his mother and sister in chapter two.

 

I am also struck and challenged by the faith of these two women. Shiphrah and Puah courageously ignored Pharaoh’s commands. They feared God more than humans. If faced with a similar dilemma, would my faith be unwavering? God rewarded them for their faith, but sometimes the outcome is much different. We follow God rather than humans, and we end up in suffering. This is part of the journey and part of life. But through suffering, we learn something about ourselves, our faith, and our God. All this to say, Shiphrah and Puah did not ignore Pharaoh because they hoped God would reward them. Rather, they chose to do the right thing without knowing what would happen to them. And that is what I would call faith that can move mountains.

Well,

This is a new blog I am creating to highlight my experiences with seminary, and help me to process and think through the knowledge I receive in this context.

As far as introductions go, I should say that I am a theology nerd and a natural pastor. I say natural because I think in metaphors, analogies, and parables. Thus, much of my communication and teaching takes the form of making connections between texts, both biblical and non-biblical.

Aside from theology, I read a lot of poetry (Walt Whitman, Gary Snyder, Wendell Berry, Charles Bukowski, and others), Science fiction (Frank Herbert and Orson Scott Card mostly).

As far as this whole seminary thing goes, I should say this:

I have been tremendously excited to begin this adventure for the past three years. In contrast to my experience with looking for college, I knew very early in my seminary search where I wanted to go. I shouldn't hesitate to say that I felt the hand of God in this decision in a very real way, and I was also influenced by my professors and my desire to go to a school with moderate theology ((there are a lot of crazies out there-- on both sides)).

My hope is that this blog will help me tie together my learning from classes and other sources of knowledge, including, but not limited to:

The Bible- obviously needs to be the central document for anything faith-related (my apologies to anyone who thinks we need another document at the center of the Christian faith).

EthicsDaily- the Baptist Center for Ethics' news site. This site is not without its biases, but I read it to get a faith perspective I can stomach on the headlines of the day. I reccomend it to anyone who has ever asked the question, "What should Christians think/do about (insert world event or popular headline)?" Also, it provides a perspective within Christianity that largely gets overlooked in favor of the more conservative elements of the faith.

Whatever else I happen to be reading- this can kind of run the gamut from nothing at all to pretty heavy classics. Usually I'm reading three or four things at a time, from fiction to poetry to history books.

With pretty lofty goals, I realize that I may fall short of some of them, but I'll try to keep my updates frequent, or at least regular, whether I have anything profound and drawn out or not.

May the peace of Christ be with you,

Wyatt

Well,

This is a new blog I am creating to highlight my experiences with seminary, and help me to process and think through the knowledge I receive in this context.

As far as introductions go, I should say that I am a theology nerd and a natural pastor. I say natural because I think in metaphors, analogies, and parables. Thus, much of my communication and teaching takes the form of making connections between texts, both biblical and non-biblical.

Aside from theology, I read a lot of poetry (Walt Whitman, Gary Snyder, Wendell Berry, Charles Bukowski, and others), Science fiction (Frank Herbert and Orson Scott Card mostly).

As far as this whole seminary thing goes, I should say this:

I have been tremendously excited to begin this adventure for the past three years. In contrast to my experience with looking for college, I knew very early in my seminary search where I wanted to go. I shouldn't hesitate to say that I felt the hand of God in this decision in a very real way, and I was also influenced by my professors and my desire to go to a school with moderate theology ((there are a lot of crazies out there-- on both sides)).

My hope is that this blog will help me tie together my learning from classes and other sources of knowledge, including, but not limited to:

The Bible- obviously needs to be the central document for anything faith-related (my apologies to anyone who thinks we need another document at the center of the Christian faith).

EthicsDaily- the Baptist Center for Ethics' news site. This site is not without its biases, but I read it to get a faith perspective I can stomach on the headlines of the day. I reccomend it to anyone who has ever asked the question, "What should Christians think/do about (insert world event or popular headline)?" Also, it provides a perspective within Christianity that largely gets overlooked in favor of the more conservative elements of the faith.

Whatever else I happen to be reading- this can kind of run the gamut from nothing at all to pretty heavy classics. Usually I'm reading three or four things at a time, from fiction to poetry to history books.

With pretty lofty goals, I realize that I may fall short of some of them, but I'll try to keep my updates frequent, or at least regular, whether I have anything profound and drawn out or not.

May the peace of Christ be with you,

Wyatt